Former priest and Irish Times columnist has abuse conviction quashed

The Court of Appeal has set aside the conviction of Barry Fergal Jennings, a 57-year-old former priest and columnist who had been serving a four-year prison sentence for sexual assault. Jennings, from Cloonkeerin in Frenchpark, County Roscommon, had been found guilty by jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in March 2022 of six counts of sexual assault perpetrated against a schoolboy at various locations in Dublin…